Welcome to the world of A Scanner Darkly -- made real. In March, a group of students at the University of Washington will put RFID tags (small radio-frequency emitting computer chips) all over their clothes and belongings. RFID readers that scan and track the tags will be installed throughout the campus' 6-story Paul Allen Building for computer science (pictured here). Every move the students make, and many objects they interact with, will be monitored and logged. Plus, students will test a "friend finding" application called RFIDer that will allow them to monitor their friends' whereabouts at all times. Participants are eager to volunteer, and call the experience a glimpse into the future. What could possibly be motivating them?

Dystopia: Students at U of Washington Will Be Tagged and Monitored in RFID Experiment

GSM Bug Picture Frame (large)

This larger sized picture frame (which you can add your own picture to) may be hung on a wall in a room of your choice. You can then dial the number of the GSM bug built into the rear of the frame - the call will connect silently after two rings and you will be able to hear whats going on in the room...from anywhere in the world!

The sound quality is truly excellent.

Battery life on standby is two weeks, this will be shortened depending on how long and how often you dial in.

Supplied complete with SIM card. Please note that frame sizes may vary slightly from that shown.

They have SPY TECH... They know.

GSM Bug Picture Frame (large)

A pair of suicide bombers struck in the Israeli town of Dimona yesterday -- the first strike of its kind in more than a year. Once it was all over, a bomb disposal robot removed one of the attacker's jacket, to make sure there were no more explosives on him. (His bomb failed to go off, and police shot and killed him.) Then the machine rolled over him, to double-check. The likely NSFW picture is after the jump.

Picture: Israeli Robot Crushes Suicide Bomber (Updated) | Danger Room from Wired.com

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Sometime next year nurses may put active band-aids on hospital patients to wirelessly monitor as many as three vital signs. Startup Toumaz Technology (Abingdon, U.K.) described its custom chip to power such a disposable device at the International Solid State Circuits Conference here Monday (Feb. 4).

The chip is one of an emerging group of smart wearable devices that ultimately aim to help patients get medical monitoring from the comfort of home.

"We not only have an aging society, but one that does not have healthy lifestyle,"

I wonder if they will now have to make tin foil bandaids too.

EETimes.com - Startup puts wireless monitor on a band-aid

JACKSON, Miss. - A state lawmaker wants to ban restaurants from serving food to obese customers — but please, don't be offended. He says he never even expected his plan to become law

Congratulations! We needed another profiled discrimination group.

Miss. law would ban serving obese diners - Yahoo! News

Would you like to play a game?

Explanation of the TIV Tables

SIPRI data on arms transfers refer to actual deliveries of major conventional weapons. Data on arms transfers are presented in the form of SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs). TIVs are expressed in US$ m. at constant (1990) prices. However, although figures are expressed in US$, TIVs do not represent the financial value of goods transferred. Instead, TIVs are an indication of the volume of arms transferred. Hence, TIVs can be used to measure trends in international arms transfers, such as changes in the total flow of weapons and the geographic pattern of arms exports or imports. The data can also be used to measure a particular country's share of the overall import or export market or the rate of increase or decline in its imports or exports. However, since TIVs do not represent the financial value of the goods transferred, they are not comparable to official economic data such as gross domestic product or export/import figures.

In order to calculate the financial value of the arms trade, the Arms Transfers Project collects official government and industry data on the value of countries arms exports. This information is available here.

It looks like a nuclear war.

ARMSFLOW

Perched atop a strip of cliffs lining a beautiful section of the Pacific Ocean, the Space and Naval Warfare System Command in San Diego develops semiautonomous armed robots for use in combat by the U.S. military. "We're not building Skynet" says Bart Everett, the technical director for robotics at SPAWAR. Though Everett assured me that the use of the robots' on-board weapons is under the strict control of their operators, the lab's bots can navigate and map complicated terrain, work cooperatively with soldiers and identify and confront hostile targets. Sure, they're no Johnny Five, but robots with guns are both creepy and fascinating.

I really love that as soon as the technology allows, Asimov dies a little more than he already is.

Gallery: Inside the Navy's Armed-Robot Labs

Dozens of words in the German language, from "degenerate" to "final solution," have become taboo because of their use by the Nazis. A new dictionary of Third Reich terms provides a guide through the linguistic minefield.

The Nazis carried out a hate campaign against 'degenerate' music -- now the word itself has become taboo.
Zoom
DPA

The Nazis carried out a hate campaign against 'degenerate' music -- now the word itself has become taboo.
As if German weren't hard enough. Three genders, endlessly long words, verbs coming at the end of impossibly rambling sentences.

But there is another, more subtle, linguistic trap which both Germans and non-Germans can easily fall into -- and which is far worse a faux pas than a mere slip of the article. Mention that you've found the "Endl�sung" ("final solution") to a problem you've been grappling with, or that you've made a "Selektion" ("selection") from a number of possible alternatives, and you will quickly find yourself the target of disapproving stares.

The Nazi's would make a dictionary just like this. Will the Germans never learn?

From 'Anschluss' to 'Zyklon B': New Dictionary Highlights Nazi Words to Avoid - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Leaked UK gov't doc reveals plan to "coerce" Brits into national ID register -- MIRROR THIS FILE!
Posted by Cory Doctorow, January 29, 2008 3:01 AM | permalink

Phil from the UK anti-ID-register group NO2ID sends in this nugget -- note the call to action there. We've got a sensitive government document revealing the British government's plan to trick us into a database state and we need as many copies as possible, as quickly as possible!

If you mirror this document, please add a link to it in the comments for the post.

UK campaigners NO2ID this morning enlisted the help of bloggers across the world to spread a leaked government document describing how the British government intends to go about "coercing" its citizens onto a National Identity Register. The 'ID card' is revealed as little more than a cover to create a official dossier and trackable ID for every UK resident - creating what NO2ID calls 'the database state'.

NO2ID's national coordinator, Phil Booth, exhorted bloggers, freedom lovers and anyone who gives a damn about personal privacy to mirror the annotated document on their site.

"The charade is over. While ministers try to bamboozle the British public with fairytales about fingerprints, officials are plotting how to dupe and bully the population into surrendering control of their own identities."

"Biometric ID cards are a sham; a magician's flourish to cover the biggest identity fraud there has ever been."

1.2MB PDF Link (mirror this file!)

Leaked UK gov't doc reveals plan to "coerce" Brits into national ID register -- MIRROR THIS FILE! - Boing Boing

Starting bid: US $500.00

Description
A crunchy Cheeto aoubt 1.25 inches long shaped like a penis with testicles

Penis Shaped Crunchy Cheeto - eBay (item 320210475613 end time Jan-28-08 13:26:05 PST)